The IUCN SSC Pangolin Specialist Group (PangolinSG) celebrated the fourth annual World Pangolin Day on February 21, 2015. The group, which consists of over 70 members from around the world and comprises trade experts, vets, social scientists, biologists and ecologists, ran a social media campaign through Facebook and Twitter to raise global awareness about pangolins and the threats they face.
The #WorldPangolinDay campaign profiled the eight pangolin species, engaged hundreds of new followers, and raised upwards of US$1,000 in donations towards the PangolinSG’s conservation goals.
February 2015 also coincided with the third anniversary of the PangolinSG. The group was established in 2012 to address the growing threat facing all eight species of pangolins. Below, we provide a summary of diverse initiatives undertaken by members of the PangolinSG to help raise awareness of these increasingly threatened species.
Eight Days of Pangolins
To build momentum and participation on social media, the PangolinSG counted down to #WorldPangolinDay with eight days of Tweets and Facebook posts celebrating the
eight species of pangolins, starting with this Temminck’s ground pangolin’s adorable mud bath:
Chinese New Year fell on February 19th, giving us another reason to celebrate the Chinese pangolin:
Media and Partner Support
CNN’s John Sutter published a superb blog post where he encouraged support of the PangolinSG and offered “7 Ways to Celebrate World Pangolin Day” as part of his Change the List project.
Pump It 4 Pangolins challenged everyone to crunch and roll their way to fitness and awareness, and generously encouraged donations to the PangolinSG.
PangolinSG Third Anniversary Milestones
Throughout World Pangolin Day we featured key accomplishments and milestones for the PangolinSG on social media in celebration of our third anniversary.
Importantly, we highlighted our 2013 conference to kick start #ScalingUpPangolinConservation, hosted by Wildlife Reserves Singapore, as well as the publication of our Scaling Up Pangolin Conservation Action Plan, which prioritizes critical actions to conserve pangolins.
PangolinSG Members Celebrate World Pangolin Day
Best of all, World Pangolin Day afforded us an opportunity to shine a light on our members, with round the clock tweets and posts celebrating the work of our quorum of more than 70 technical experts from around the world including field biologists, zoologists, veterinarians, geneticists and social scientists.
PangolinSG members across pangolin range states celebrated World Pangolin Day. Members in Africa launched The African Pangolin Working Group in the days leading up to the event, and further celebrated with radio interviews and news articles in South African newspapers.
Zimbabwe’s Tikki Hywood Trust partnered with Swift Transport to launch a pangolin campaign with a corporate social responsibility message.
Our members mobilized across Asia to kick start conservation actions for pangolins. Louise Fletcher facilitated a workshop in of Brunei Darussalam for NGO, government, and university and school student participants focused on designing a strategy for the conservation of the Sunda pangolin in partnership with the British High Commission and 1Stop Brunei Wildlife.
Edge Fellow Ambika Khatiwada organized and hosted a World Pangolin Day round table in Kathmandu. 75 participants including researchers, conservationists, government officials, and media representatives attended the 3 hour program to brainstorm solutions to pangolin conservation challenges.
PangolinSG members at Taipei Zoo created a World Pangolin Day video to highlight their important research into husbandry and conservation breeding.
The IUCN-SSC Pangolin Specialist Group works to conserve pangolins every day. Please continue to follow our Facebook and Twitter feeds as we highlight the work of our members and work to conserve pangolins throughout the year.